Wordle has officially moved over to the New York Times and despite promises that nothing about the gameplay would change, users are noticing differences and they’re not happy.
To start, a lot of users are insisting that the NYT version is harder, with more obscure words than the original.
I can’t say if the new Wordle is any harder (personally, I haven’t noticed a difference) but claims that the word list is different are not unfounded.
The Times has changed the game’s list of acceptable words, both in terms of guessable words and solutions. According to BoingBoing, some of the deleted words include agora, fibre, lynch, pupal, slave, and wench, as well as some “b-list racist slurs” and other derogatory words.
By changing the word list, the Times also changed the list of solutions. That means that anyone who is playing the old version of the game (either by downloading it or keeping a cached version open in a window or tab) will have a different word than those playing at the new URL.
A few people have reported losing their streaks in the redirect to the new Times URL, but for the most part, the changes are minor, like changing the font to the NYT’s distinctive Karnak, and most people likely won’t even register the difference.
For others, the changes are just noticeable enough to find totally irksome.
What do you think of the new Wordle? Have you noticed any changes? Or have you managed not to make the switch yet?
Published: Feb 15, 2022 02:29 pm